Shot

Police blow

The police have been told they may have to delete thousands of surveillance photosfrom their files after a landmark privacy ruling.TheCourt of Appeal ruled that police were wrong to keep pictures of lawful arms trade protester Andrew Wood, who was not suspected of a criminal offence. The Metropolitan Police are not expected to appeal againstthedecision, meaning they could be forced to delete huge photo archives, say lawyers. Afterwards, the Met said the ruling provided 'valuable guidelines'regarding its use of'overt photography'in gaining intelligence.

Jessops results

Shares in Jessops fell 77% following news that shareholdersareunlikely to see any return amid the photographic store's ongoing debt-restructuring programme. Britain's biggest high-street photographic retailer reported that its like-for-like sales fell 4.5% in the six months to 51 March 2009. Its loss before tax and non-recurring items more than doubled to £5.9m (2.9m in 2008). Jessops shares fell as low as 1.5 pence each on 27 May before recovering.

Long service

A photographer who served for 33 years on the'Daily Record' newspaper has died. Archie McGilp, who retired in 1987, was 82. Former colleague Derek Masterton told the newspaper: 'He wasa su perb professional and a joy to work with... His losswill be mourned throughout the industry and particularly in Ayrshire where he had so many friends.'

Pop-up shade

A Pop-up Shade, designed to protect the LCD screen on Canon's EOS 5D Mark II, has been launched by Delkin Devices. The shade, made from clear plastic, costs £34.99. For details call 01922 636 250orv'isit www. delkin.com.

AP reader escapes 'machete' attack

AN AP reader has escaped from men wielding machetes while he was travelling around Mozambique, taking photographs for a new book.

Kypros Kyprianou, who grew up in England, released images of one of the suspects that he took following the arrest of a man by police in Mueda.

Commenting on the figures, Cedric Mertes at GfK Retail and Technology said: 'The compact market has reached maturity. Today 75% of households own a compact camera. The market currently relies on replacement sales...'

He added: 'Obviously the general crisis has pushed the sales decrease of the compact segment..."

Last month, we reported that UK sales of digital SLRs levelled off in March, compared to the same month last year.

However, analysts say that the DSLR market is still on track to notch-up overall growth this year.

Consumers snapped up 34,966 DSLRs in March, compared to 35,139 in March 2008, according to

GfK Marketing Services Ltd (see News, API 6 March).

Meanwhile, in unit terms, digital camera shipments from Japanese camera companies fell 29% in the first three months of 2009 compared to the same period the year before - a drop of 45 5% in value.

The number of DSLRs shipped fell 30.6%, and dropped 52.6% in value terms, according to figures released by the Camera and Industry Products Association.

Although DSLR shipments to Europe only dropped 16%, in value terms during these three months, this marked a 51.2% fall on the year before.

However, a four-month downward trend in sales of digital SLRs in Japan came to an end in March, according to respected trade publication PEN News Weekly. The article referred to sales figures for March drawn from a report by research firm BCN

A plain-clothes'policeman (below) detains a^suspecí ¡ believed tolbeéríescapea convict, who wafWusetl visited AP's offices in London to show staff his photographs before embarking on a project to photograph 'remote areas of Africa'.

At the time of writing APhad not been able to independently verify details of the incident.

Kyprianou first contacted the magazine from a local radio station.

The magazine alerted the Greek Embassy in Mozambique.

murder,' claimed the former businessman, who now lives in Greece.

Kyprianou said that one of the attackers hacked at him through a smashed window while holding on to a roof rack as he tried to escape the assault.

'I drove the Land Rover into bushes and shrubs at high speed and finally braked sharply, throwing the attacker into the air,' he added.

Last year, the photographer

He suffered a number of cuts to his body during the incident, but said he was not badly hurt.

In a call to AP's newsdesk, the photographer said: 'Bandits attacked me and hit me with their machetes. I have cuts all over me.

'It was attempted

The Sony lenses were among optics first unveiled in Las Vegas earlier this year

Amateurs and professionals are invited to enter the 'Take a View' competition for the chance of claiming the title of Landscape Photographer of the Year 2009, along with a £10,000 cash prize.

There are four categories: Classic view, Living the view, Your view and Phone view. The contest, now in its third year, was the brainchild of landscape ace Charlie Waite, who said: 'People are photographing more than ever before and if ever there was a good time to get out with a camera... it has to be now.'

Dr Helen Phillips, CEO of Natural England, which is supporting the contest, said: 'This competition is an important initiative to help people value and appreciate the enormous variety of landscapes in this country and the many challenges they face.'

This year's competition is also backed by the English National Parks Authorities.

The best images will go on show at London's National Theatre later this year and will be published in a book. Entry fees start from £7 for submitting a single image in